WEBVTT 00:01.290 --> 00:04.346 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and our Savior 00:04.378 --> 00:05.358 Jesus Christ. 00:05.524 --> 00:06.510 Amen. 00:07.250 --> 00:10.414 The text for our sermon today is going to be Psalm 121. 00:10.532 --> 00:12.106 You can see it printed in your bulletin. 00:12.138 --> 00:15.582 Or you can open up your Bibles to Psalm 121 as we go along. 00:15.636 --> 00:19.966 We just heard it sung by Sarah, and she did a marvelous job of 00:19.988 --> 00:24.110 capturing the assurance the psalmist has in the Lord. 00:24.810 --> 00:29.074 He has such assurance in the Lord, and she picks up on it by repeating 00:29.122 --> 00:31.490 that first verse multiple times in her song. 00:31.570 --> 00:33.010 She really brings out that assurance. 00:33.090 --> 00:38.200 I will lift up my eyes to the hills, for there I will find help. 00:38.970 --> 00:42.220 Masterfully done in no small way. 00:42.670 --> 00:45.354 And the psalmist certainly does have help. 00:45.552 --> 00:48.746 When I read this psalm, I like to think about two people helping each 00:48.768 --> 00:50.246 other on a journey. 00:50.438 --> 00:54.074 You could think about a shepherd and his companion. 00:54.122 --> 00:57.498 You could think about Abram and Sarah, or Abram and Lott. 00:57.674 --> 01:00.798 You could think about Augustine and his students. 01:00.964 --> 01:03.306 You could think about Luther and Melanchthon. 01:03.498 --> 01:08.402 You could think about you and yourself and the person sitting behind 01:08.456 --> 01:09.490 you in the pew. 01:10.790 --> 01:14.206 I like to think about two people going on a journey in this psalm 01:14.238 --> 01:15.762 because it's really signaled by this 01:15.816 --> 01:20.710 I you split between verses two and three in the text. 01:20.780 --> 01:24.054 And so the psalmist begins by repeating this question that was asked 01:24.092 --> 01:24.838 of him. 01:25.004 --> 01:28.326 He repeated it back to his companion and then answers it, which is 01:28.348 --> 01:31.846 just a great pedagogical tool for all you prospective Vicars out 01:31.868 --> 01:32.438 there. 01:32.604 --> 01:34.730 You should probably write that one down somewhere. 01:35.310 --> 01:38.026 So he repeats the question back to him there in verse one. 01:38.128 --> 01:39.900 From where does my help come? 01:40.350 --> 01:43.766 Well, my help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth. 01:43.878 --> 01:46.314 I lift up my eyes and I see all of creation. 01:46.362 --> 01:49.710 I see the mountains, I see the valleys, the hills, and everything 01:49.780 --> 01:50.302 between. 01:50.436 --> 01:54.786 I see the big trees and the little bugs, and I think, My God, this is 01:54.808 --> 01:55.650 incredible. 01:56.070 --> 02:02.546 And my God has created all of this with just a single word, just the 02:02.568 --> 02:03.810 breadth of his mouth. 02:05.510 --> 02:07.938 So you ask, from where does my help come? 02:08.104 --> 02:09.880 And I say, look around you. 02:10.490 --> 02:13.654 My help comes from the Creator who gave you 2 feet to stand on, my 02:13.692 --> 02:14.134 friend. 02:14.252 --> 02:19.420 The power which which separated the heavens from the earth is my God, 02:20.110 --> 02:22.300 and he is my help. 02:24.110 --> 02:25.834 What more needs to be said than that? 02:25.872 --> 02:26.460 Right? 02:26.830 --> 02:28.182 Question answered. 02:28.326 --> 02:29.302 Problem solved. 02:29.366 --> 02:29.980 Next. 02:34.690 --> 02:39.582 I think often we think we're trying to solve the problem. 02:39.636 --> 02:46.126 We're trying to answer the question they have, and so often it's not 02:46.148 --> 02:46.880 the case. 02:49.010 --> 02:51.710 We're not giving them enough space to doubt. 02:52.690 --> 02:56.360 We're not giving them enough space to express themselves. 02:58.970 --> 02:59.860 I had a friend call me 03:00.270 --> 03:00.980 one time. 03:02.950 --> 03:06.498 This particular friend is an atheist, but we've been friends for a 03:06.504 --> 03:09.810 long time, and so we both understand that there are just certain 03:09.880 --> 03:12.660 philosophical differences between the two of us. 03:13.590 --> 03:16.034 And so he calls me one night, and if you know anything about 03:16.072 --> 03:18.818 millennials, then you know that we hate talking on the phone. 03:18.984 --> 03:20.370 So this was serious. 03:22.550 --> 03:27.980 He called me because he was in a very low, very deep, very dark place. 03:28.430 --> 03:30.234 at this point in his life 03:30.432 --> 03:33.450 living was scarier than death. 03:37.020 --> 03:41.310 There was this perfect pregnant pause right there. 03:42.480 --> 03:43.820 And I hesitated. 03:45.280 --> 03:48.444 I hesitated because I knew what I wanted to say would not go over 03:48.482 --> 03:51.067 well, but I just had to say it. 03:51.234 --> 03:53.164 I said, you know, you're never alone. 03:53.212 --> 03:56.770 I'm here for you always, whenever you need it, of course. 03:57.460 --> 04:01.970 But even when I'm not around, God is there. 04:04.100 --> 04:07.200 And I left it at that because I wanted Him to respond. 04:07.280 --> 04:09.760 I wanted to have a deeper conversation. 04:09.840 --> 04:12.470 I didn't want to just be monologuing at him. 04:14.680 --> 04:16.420 And there was a long pause. 04:22.360 --> 04:33.124 He said, you know, I'm glad that works for you, Josh, but my heart 04:33.162 --> 04:34.180 just sank. 04:35.400 --> 04:38.810 We're so often tempted to wonder the worst about God. 04:39.260 --> 04:42.936 A musician once saying that, you can ride with me through the veins of 04:42.957 --> 04:47.530 history, and I'll show you a God who falls asleep on the job. 04:49.340 --> 04:53.084 Our psalmist traveling companion might have said something similar. 04:53.282 --> 04:55.180 Oh, well, that's good for you. 04:55.330 --> 04:57.464 I'm glad that your help comes from the Lord. 04:57.512 --> 04:58.670 But what about me? 04:59.120 --> 05:01.970 God must have fallen asleep when I call on Him. 05:02.580 --> 05:04.800 It could be anything big or anything small. 05:04.870 --> 05:09.183 It could be something like, God, you fell asleep when I stepped into 05:09.222 --> 05:15.764 that puddle all the way to you fell asleep when I got into that car 05:15.802 --> 05:16.580 crash. 05:17.800 --> 05:22.840 Or, God, you were asleep when I had that first miscarriage. 05:23.820 --> 05:28.515 Or you were certainly asleep when 20,000 people died in an earthquake 05:28.548 --> 05:29.400 overnight. 05:30.860 --> 05:31.224 Yeah 05:31.262 --> 05:36.990 if there is a God, he fell asleep on the job a long time ago. 05:39.520 --> 05:42.460 But our psalmist won't waver. 05:42.800 --> 05:44.060 He prays. 05:44.560 --> 05:46.539 He shares a prayer in verse 3. 05:46.610 --> 05:48.600 May your foot not be moved. 05:48.680 --> 05:51.100 He who keeps you will not slumber. 05:51.680 --> 05:54.892 This prayer is not is not empty words. 05:54.946 --> 05:57.964 These are words which care deeply for the person. 05:58.082 --> 05:59.472 These are words of faith. 05:59.576 --> 05:59.919 Behold 06:00.330 --> 06:02.458 he says, Hane, pay attention. 06:02.554 --> 06:03.006 Look. 06:03.108 --> 06:06.458 He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 06:06.634 --> 06:10.000 This God, our God, reminds us. 06:11.410 --> 06:15.310 He reminds us that our God is one who acts in history. 06:15.460 --> 06:19.520 Our God is not standing wholly outside of what we see and experience. 06:20.130 --> 06:22.778 He has not pulled away from his handiwork. 06:22.874 --> 06:27.750 No, he is upholding it in his gracious love and goodness. 06:29.290 --> 06:31.474 In the beginning, God traced that horizon. 06:31.522 --> 06:35.782 His words separated the waters from the sky, and his very breath gave 06:35.836 --> 06:36.898 life to Adam. 06:36.994 --> 06:40.746 God walked with Adam, and when Adam fell, he delivered his promise to 06:40.768 --> 06:44.620 restore all things to him in person, not by email. 06:48.480 --> 06:52.624 God then chose a very specific group of people to carry on those 06:52.662 --> 06:57.372 promises, and he preserved them time and time again through tangible 06:57.516 --> 07:00.428 people and worldly events. 07:00.604 --> 07:05.008 It's no small fact that God took on flesh while Quirinius was governor 07:05.024 --> 07:10.176 in Syria and that he suffered and died and was buried under Pontius 07:10.207 --> 07:10.980 Pilate. 07:12.040 --> 07:16.516 These historical truths are more than gotchas in an argument against 07:16.618 --> 07:17.270 somebody. 07:18.360 --> 07:20.644 They're more than a historical puzzle to be solved. 07:20.692 --> 07:25.096 God entered into history to preserve his people for his purposes, and 07:25.118 --> 07:26.664 he still does that today. 07:26.782 --> 07:31.452 The church is a very real, tangible place where God delivers His Word 07:31.506 --> 07:32.520 and his sacrament. 07:32.600 --> 07:36.504 So, yes, Hane, behold, pay attention. 07:36.632 --> 07:42.140 The God who preserved Israel in time and in space preserves you for 07:42.210 --> 07:43.650 his purposes, too. 07:44.340 --> 07:48.960 And like a tree planted by the water, he will not let you be moved. 07:52.100 --> 07:57.076 So, first year, I attended a new member class where the pastor was 07:57.098 --> 08:02.020 talking about the fourth petition, the Daily Bread petition. 08:02.520 --> 08:05.940 And Luther's, meaning we just heard about that on Friday. 08:07.320 --> 08:11.544 And after class, a guy comes up to me and he says, so all of this, 08:11.662 --> 08:15.268 this whole God has given you everything you need for body and soul 08:15.364 --> 08:19.332 food, drink, house, home, land, animals, devout husband, devout wife, 08:19.476 --> 08:24.650 devout children, good reputation, all of that. 08:28.310 --> 08:33.186 Isn't Luther just being a little bit idealistic, especially 08:33.288 --> 08:37.193 considering the living condition of the medieval peasantry at the 08:37.232 --> 08:37.819 time? 08:40.510 --> 08:48.665 I said, Well, I'm just a seminarian let me go find the pastor for 08:48.688 --> 08:57.340 you. Because this was a guy who had lost everything. 08:58.590 --> 08:59.480 I knew his story. 09:01.050 --> 09:02.350 He had lost his wife. 09:02.930 --> 09:04.686 His children hated him. 09:04.868 --> 09:08.270 He had lost his house, he lost his job and had to join the military. 09:08.690 --> 09:11.120 So how was I going to speak to that? 09:11.650 --> 09:14.000 How was I going to answer him? 09:19.560 --> 09:23.312 Well, our psalmist would have simply laid it on thicker the promises 09:23.376 --> 09:24.150 of God. 09:25.000 --> 09:26.928 The Lord is your keeper. 09:27.024 --> 09:28.036 He moves on. 09:28.138 --> 09:30.280 The Lord is your your keeper, your shade. 09:30.360 --> 09:33.244 The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. 09:33.282 --> 09:37.004 And He will preserve you're coming out and you're coming in from this 09:37.042 --> 09:39.020 time forth and forevermore. 09:39.920 --> 09:40.670 Wow. 09:41.520 --> 09:43.228 What an assertion that is. 09:43.394 --> 09:47.436 So not only does God keep your feet planted, but you are in the shadow 09:47.468 --> 09:50.290 of his wing every second of every day. 09:51.460 --> 09:55.684 The sun and the moon could literally fall on you, but they would not 09:55.722 --> 09:56.900 strike you dead. 09:58.520 --> 10:02.644 We don't experience that now, but that's our vision forward. 10:02.842 --> 10:03.684 That's the now 10:03.722 --> 10:04.630 not yet. 10:05.319 --> 10:08.970 Because as Christ lives, you live in Him. 10:09.819 --> 10:13.976 So God never sleeps on the job, even when our experience screams to 10:13.998 --> 10:15.080 the contrary. 10:15.980 --> 10:20.024 He has provided his church as a place for his promises to be doled 10:20.072 --> 10:23.420 out, for comfort and for building the faith. 10:24.240 --> 10:27.660 But He's given the church tangible work to do in the meantime. 10:28.800 --> 10:32.400 So my days of using that seminary excuse are numbered. 10:33.220 --> 10:40.588 Use it while you can, but use it to prepare yourself, to prepare 10:40.604 --> 10:44.870 yourself to give an account of the hope that is within you. 10:45.640 --> 10:50.132 Psalm 121 has given you one way to answer. That 10:50.186 --> 10:53.350 God does not fall asleep on the job. 10:53.960 --> 10:59.768 He acts in time and in place, in the church and in your life in big, 10:59.934 --> 11:07.480 transformative, life changing ways and in very small, mundane moments. 11:10.880 --> 11:15.436 There once was an orphan who remembered only one lesson from his 11:15.458 --> 11:16.140 father. 11:17.280 --> 11:19.819 It was a rainy day tradition. 11:20.480 --> 11:24.400 He would share his umbrella with strangers. 11:24.980 --> 11:28.048 He would walk them across the street from the train station to the 11:28.054 --> 11:30.290 grocery store or to the post office. 11:31.300 --> 11:35.008 One lady noticed the orphan had a wet shoulder and asked him, do you 11:35.014 --> 11:36.180 know you're being rained on? 11:36.250 --> 11:37.700 Your shoulder is wet. 11:38.840 --> 11:42.340 And the orphan said, A wet shoulder is my badge of honor. 11:43.319 --> 11:47.236 The secret of sharing an umbrella means you keep the person next to 11:47.258 --> 11:48.180 you dry. 11:49.160 --> 11:54.550 And so a wet shoulder proves how much that person means to you. 11:56.840 --> 11:59.720 Some of us are nearing the end of our seminary 12:00.090 --> 12:01.280 journey here together. 12:02.610 --> 12:07.214 It's quickly approaching and others are just now beginning their 12:07.252 --> 12:08.030 journey. 12:09.010 --> 12:13.374 But remember that God is at work, even in something as simple as a 12:13.412 --> 12:21.386 sung psalm, a phone call, a new member class, or even just a wet 12:21.418 --> 12:22.190 shoulder. 12:23.890 --> 12:26.934 Now may the peace peace of God, which surpasses all of our 12:26.972 --> 12:30.450 understanding, keep our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus. 12:30.610 --> 12:31.010 Amen.